[houmie]

Hi,

First of all I have to say this book is one of the best books I have ever read about programming. It is so clear and crip. The topics are explained so well and not too fast, so that everything sticks.

Since this book was written 7 years ago, we have to agree that some stuff have changed. The book for example claims that HTML 4.01 is most likely the last version, and from now on XHTML will be continued. After a few chapters the book completely sticks to XHTML 1.0 syntax.

Seven years later we know that it didn't work out that way. In fact XHTML 2.0 was a failure and instead HTML 5.0 came out after all.

So now the question is, how do I take it from here? It is clear that I will eventually move towards HTML 5.0 but for the time being should I start my project with strict XHTML syntax or strict HTML 4.01? I would like to choose one that is easier to upgrade from to HTML 5.0.

Many Thanks,

[Beth Robson]

Great question!

Fortunately, any XHTML techniques you've learned will serve you (mostly) well with HTML5 and the stuff that doesn't is easy to unlearn.

So...

We are currently working on a 2nd edition of this book that ditches the XHTML and updates for HTML5. I'd say 85% of the book is basically the same, though, so you've learned the core basics and that will continue to serve you well and as a good foundation for learning HTML5.

And if you're ready to learn JavaScript, then you can pick up Head First HTML5 Programming and continue learning HTML5 from there (that book focuses almost entirely on JavaScript).

I hope this helps!

Elisabeth

[Beth Robson]

p.s. it's up to you whether you want to stick with the strict XHTML syntax or not; HTML5 (with an HTML5 doctype) does support the XHTML syntax, but if you want to stop using it, that's fine too (unless of course you *need* to write XHTML for some reason, which you may need to at times).